The Colonial Office 194
Series

What are the CO 194
papers?For historians engaged in
research into the history of Newfoundland during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
the CO 194 papers are perhaps the single most important series of primary materials.
Despatches and their enclosures (i.e., supporting documentation) that were sent to the
Board of Trade and to the Secretary of State from the civil administrators at Newfoundland
were assigned to this series. This is where researchers will find petitions, reports,
complaints, and representations relating to the fisheries, trade, and defence. This is the
series where researchers will find "Answers to the Heads of Inquiry" (annual
reports based on a series of questions called "Heads of Inquiry"), the annual
"States of the Fishery," etc. Vols. 1-20 includes correspondence with the Board
of Trade, 1696-1782; vol. 21 is a "Miscellaneous" volume for 1730-1793; Vols.
22-279 comprise correspondence with the Secretary of State, 1702-1909. The originals are
today housed in Kew, England at the The National Archives of
the UK
(known as the Public Record Office until it was joined together in April 2003
with the Historical Manuscripts Commission). However, the series has been microfilmed in toto, so
that copies on microfilm may be found in many places, including the National Archives of Canada, the
Provincial Archives of
Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Centre for Newfoundland Studies in the
Queen Elizabeth II Library of Memorial University of Newfoundland; copies of the volumes
up to and including 1836 are also found in the Ferriss Hodgett Library of
Grenfell Campus (though we shall gradually acquire more reels as this finding
aid project evolves). In a very few instances, documents have also been
transcribed in full; these are indicated with the words "see transcript" or
"see complete transcript" and can be examined simply by clicking on the
designated link. There is, however, no substitute to examining the original or
microform copy of the original, and users of this finding aid should
understand that where such transcriptions are provided, they should be used
with caution.

Incidentally, those
engaged in research into early modern Newfoundland may find a new finding
aid to another set of manuscripts useful as well. The
Colonial Secretary's Letterbook comprises "fair copies" of orders,
proclamations, trial transcripts, memoranda, and letters relating to the
day-to-day activities of the governors of Newfoundland from 1749 onwards.
These manuscripts overlap to some degree with the CO 194 papers, but many of
the documents in the Colonial Secretary's Letterbook (such as court
transcripts) can be found nowhere else.

Some
words of warning -- and a request for assistanceThe project is far
from complete, and will only include those volumes held in microform at Grenfell Campus (which, at the moment, only go as far as the mid-1830s). Users of the Finding Aid should also be
warned that errors inevitably appear in spelling or in deciphering names and references in
what are often near-to-illegible script. Signatures in particular are often
very difficult to decipher, with the result that many times we were simply
unable to identify the author of a document, or we guessed; for this we apologize. Should you wish to make suggestions, offer
corrections, or just provide a comment, we would be very grateful if you would contact
Dr. Olaf U. Janzen so that the necessary
changes can be made.

AcknowledgementsWhat we post here could not
have been achieved without the assistance of a legion of students over the years; some worked on this as part of the course requirements for History 3110, "The History
of Newfoundland to 1815," while others were hired to work on the project with the
support of small university-administered employment grants during the summer months.
Thanks should also go to Wallace MacLean; it was he who encouraged us to publish these
Finding Aids on the Internet so that they would become as widely accessible as possible.

If you would like to send this webpage to a friend /
colleague, then please enter the
e-mail address below and click on the button. Thank You. Please note, you
will need some kind of mail client installed (ie. Outlook, Eudora, or
Netscape Messenger).